In conducting electronic communications and commerce, individuals and organizations may wish to convert paper or electronic documents into fillable forms, which they can distribute electronically to allow others to complete and/or sign quickly and conveniently. For example, a person may scan a paper document, save the scanned document as a PDF (Portable Document Format) file, and add form fields using a PDF editor. One may also print or save a word processing document, or other electronic document, as a PDF file, and add form fields to the resulting file. As is known, form fields are active regions in an electronic form that allow users to enter data using their computers, smart phones, or other devices. Examples of form fields include textboxes, checkboxes, select boxes, date pickers, and the like.
In some examples, users add form fields to a document manually, e.g., by using a form field tool and drawing fields over the document. In other examples, users may employ automated tools for detecting field locations in the document and inserting form fields without user intervention. For example, Adobe® Acrobat® provides an auto-detect form fields feature that automatically detects and inserts form fields into documents.